THE PRESIDENT: Before the Chief Prosecutor for the United
States proceeds to present the evidence on Count 1, the
Tribunal wishes me to announce the decision on the
application made on behalf of the defendant Julius Streicher
by his counsel that his condition be examined. It has been
examined by three medical experts on behalf of the Tribunal
and their report has been submitted to and considered by the
Tribunal; and it is as follows:

"1. The defendant Julius Streicher is sane.
2. The defendant Julius Streicher is fit to appear
before the Tribunal, and to present his defence.
3. It being the unanimous conclusion of the examiners
that Julius Streicher is sane, he is for that reason
capable of understanding the nature and policy of his
acts during the period of time covered by the
indictment."

The Tribunal accepts the report of the medical experts and
the trial against Julius Streicher will, therefore, proceed.

The other matter to which I have to refer is a motion on
behalf of counsel for Bormann, whom the Tribunal have
decided to try in his absence in pursuance of Article 12 of
the Charter. Counsel for Bormann has made a motion that the
trial against him should be postponed, but, in view of the
fact that the provisions of the Charter and the Tribunal's
rules of procedure have been strictly carried out in the
notices which have been given, and the fact that counsel for
Bormann will have ample time before he is called upon to
present defence on his behalf, the motion is denied.

I will now call upon counsel for the United States to
present the evidence on Count 1.

COLONEL STOREY: May it please the Tribunal: As the first
order of business concerning the evidence, it shall be my
purpose to outline the method of assembling, processing and
authenticating documents to be presented in evidence by the
United States. I shall also describe and illustrate the plan
of presenting documents and briefs relating to the United
States Case in Chief.

As the United States Army advanced into German territory,
there were attached to each Army and subordinate
Organisation specialised military personnel, whose duties
were to capture and preserve enemy information in the form
of documents, records, reports and other files. The Germans
kept accurate and voluminous records. They were found in
Army headquarters, government buildings and elsewhere.
During the later stages of the war, particularly, such
documents were found in salt mines, buried in the ground,
behind false walls and many other places believed secure by
the Germans. For example, the personal correspondence and
diaries of defendant Rosenberg, including his Nazi Party
correspondence, were found behind a false wall in an old
castle in Eastern Bavaria. The records of the OKL, or
Luftwaffe, of which the defendant Goering was Commander-in-
Chief - equivalent to the records of the Headquarters of the
Air Staff of our Army Air Forces of the United States, were
found in various places in the Bavarian Alps. Most of such
Luftwaffe records were assembled and processed by the Army
at Berchtesgaden.

When the Army first captured documents and records, they
immediately placed the materials under guard and later
assembled them in temporary document centres. Many times the
records were so voluminous that they were hauled by fleets
of Army trucks to document centres. Finally, as the
territory seized was
[Page 88]
made secure, Army zones were established and each Army
established a fixed document centre to which were
transported the assembled documents and records. Later this
material was indexed and catalogued, which was a slow
process.

Beginning last June, Mr. Justice Jackson requested me to
direct the assembling of documentary evidence on the
continent for the U.S. Case. Field teams from our office
were organised under the direction of Major William H.
Coogan, who established U.S. liaison officers at the main
Army document centres. Such officers were directed to screen
and analyse the mass of captured documents, and select those
having evidentiary value for our case. Literally hundreds of
tons of enemy documents and records were screened and
examined, and those selected were forwarded to Nuremberg for
processing. I now offer in evidence an affidavit by Major
Coogan, dated 19th November, 1945, attached hereto,
describing the method of procedure, capture, screening and
delivery of such documents to Nuremberg.

At this time, if your Honour pleases, and in order to
present this matter to the Tribunal, I believe it wise to
read at least substantial portions of this affidavit. It is
dated 19th November, 1945.

I, MAJOR WILLIAM H. COOGAN, 0-4558I4, Q.M.C., a
commissioned officer of the Army of the United States
of America, do hereby certify as follows

(1) The United States Chief of Counsel in July, 1945,
charged the Field Branch of the Documentation Division
with the responsibility of collecting, evaluating and
assembling documentary evidence in the European Theatre
for use in the prosecution of the major Axis War
Criminals before the International Military Tribunal. I
was appointed Chief of the Field Branch on 20th July,
1945. I am now the Chief of the Documentation Division,
Office of United States Chief of Counsel.

(2) I have served in the United States Army for more
than four years and am a practising attorney by
profession. Based upon my experience as an attorney and
as a United States Army officer, I am familiar with the
operation of the United States Army in connection with
seizing and processing captured enemy documents. In my
capacity as Chief of the Documentation Division, Office
of the United States Chief of Counsel, I am familiar
with and have supervised the processing, filing,
translating and photostating of all documentary
evidence for the United States Chief of Counsel."

I skip to paragraph 4.

"(4) The Field Branch of the Documentation Division was
staffed by personnel thoroughly conversant with the
German language. Their task was to search for and
select captured enemy documents in the European theatre
which disclosed information relating to the prosecution
of the major Axis War Criminals. Officers under my
command were placed on duty at various document centres
and also dispatched on individual missions to obtain
original documents. When the documents were located, my
representatives made a record of the circumstances
under which they were found, and all information
available concerning their authenticity was recorded.
Such documents were further identified by Field Branch
pre-trial serial numbers, assigned by my
representatives who would then periodically dispatch
the original documents by courier to the Office of the
United States Chief of Counsel.

(5) Upon receipt of these documents they were duly
recorded and indexed. After this operation, they were
delivered to the Screening and Analysis Branch of the
Documentation Division of the Office of United States
Chief of Counsel, which Branch re-examined the
documents in order to finally determine whether or not
they should be retained as evidence for the
prosecutors. This final screening was done by German-
speaking analysts on the staff of the United States
Chief of Counsel. When the document passed the
screeners, it was then transmitted to the document room
of the Office of United States Chief of Counsel, with a
covering sheet prepared by the screeners showing the
title or nature of the document, the personalities
involved, and its importance. In the document room, a
trial

[Page 89]

identification number was given to each document or to
each group of documents in cases where it was desirable
for the sake of clarity to file several documents
together.

(6) United States documents were given trial
identification numbers in one of five series designated
by the letters: "PS", "L", "R", "C", and "EC,"
indicating the means of acquisition of the documents.
Within each series documents were listed numerically.

(7) After a document was so numbered, it was then sent
to a German-speaking analyst, who prepared a summary of
it with appropriate references to personalities
involved, index headings, information as to the source
of the document as indicated by the Field Branch, and
the importance of the document to a particular phase of
the case. Next, the original document was returned to
the document room and then checked out to the
photostating department, where photostatic copies were
made. Upon return from photostating, it was placed in
an envelope in one of the several fireproof safes in
the rear of the document room. One of the photostatic
copies of the document was sent to the translators,
thereafter leaving the original itself in the safe. A
commissioned officer has been, and is, responsible for
the documents in the safe. At all times when he is not
present the safe is locked and a military guard is on
duty outside the only door. If the officers preparing
the certified translation, or one of the officers
working on the briefs, found it necessary to examine
the original document, this was done within the
document room in the section set aside for that
purpose. The only exception to this strict rule has
been where it has been occasionally necessary to
present the original document to the defence counsel
for examination. In this case, the document as
entrusted to a responsible officer of the prosecution
staff.

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